Title

Author

Date of Award

4-1983

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Psychology

First Advisor

Dr. R. Wayne Fuqua

Second Advisor

Dr. Chris Koronakos

Third Advisor

Dr. John Mick Hanley

Access Setting

Masters Thesis-Open Access

Abstract

The effects of the regulated breathing method on several characteristics of the speech of four stutterers were assessed in a multiple baseline across subjects design. Repeated measures of stuttering frequency, speech rate , and fluency rate were obtained in multiple settings before, at termination, and through six months post-treatment Subjects' estimates of stuttering frequency were compared with objective measures of stuttering across phases. At post-treatment and follow-up, although stuttering frequency had decreased and speech rate increased substantially compared to baseline, subjects continued to stutter frequently. Additionally, subjects consistently underestimated frequency of stutters as measured by the experimenter. The efficacy of the regulated breathing method is questioned, as is the validity of using self-estimates of stuttering frequency as an outcome measure.